Discovery at the Diner
by Josephine77
Summary: When Ruby finds a stray baggy in the bathroom with something interesting inside, everyone is eager to discuss what it's about and the content's owner.


**Discovery at the Diner**

"Ruby Lucas, you get your skinny butt out here right now!" Granny screeched as she exited the diner's bathroom, holding out a baggy by her thumb and forefinger.

"Is everything okay?" Emma, who was sitting at a table with her parents and Neal, asked the older woman. Today was Regina's day with Henry, and Granny's was the best spot for drop-offs and breakfast.

"Just peachy," Granny barked, marching past the sheriff . "I just need to talk to that granddaughter of mine."

"What's wrong? What did I do this time?" Ruby came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Did I not ring up an order correctly?"

"You tell need to tell me exactly what you've been doing?" Granny demanded as she thrust the small plastic bag into her granddaughter's face.

Grabbing hold of the offending item, Ruby studied it and gasped, "Granny, what are you doing with this? Who does it belong to?"

"That's exactly what I want to know, little missy," she hissed.

"You don't think it's mine, do you?" Ruby blurted.

"Well, it certainly isn't mine," Granny answered back smartly. "I just found it in the ladies' restroom."

"That isn't something illegal, is it? Emma called out, not able to see what the two were arguing about. "Am I going to have to confiscate it and open an investigation?

"Oh, it's nothing illegal, but it might be interesting to investigate." Ruby walked over to the table and handed the small bag to Emma and then turned back to her grandmother and grumbled, "I can't believe you thought it was mine, Granny."

"Well, there haven't been that many people in the diner this morning and it wasn't in the restroom last night. I know because I did the job you were supposed to do and cleaned it. Who else's could it have been?"

"Granny," Ruby admonished. "Even if I were to need that, which I don't, I wouldn't be using the diner's restroom. We _do_ have private quarters at the Inn. How did you find it? Please tell me you didn't pick it up with your bare hands."

"It was already in a baggy when I found it. On the floor in one of the stalls."

"What are you guys looking at?" Henry asked from his perch at the counter next to Regina. Hopping off the stool, he walked over to see what was in the bag that was causing such a ruckus. "Why is there a pregnancy test in a plastic bag?"

"Henry!" Emma exclaimed. "How do you know what this is?"

"I watch television," he informed the group in a know-it-all voice. "There are commercials all the time on TV about them. Plus, I'm twelve years old. I _have _had health class."

"Well, let's just hope it's another twelve years," David spluttered, "no make it twenty, before you come this close to one again."

"Okay," Snow injected, trying to be the voice of reason. "Now that we all know Henry watches too much television, maybe we should find out who exactly it belongs to and why it would be in a public bathroom."

"Obviously, it fell out of someone's purse," Emma answered.

"Okay, Madam Sheriff, tell us your reasoning," Neal interjected as he sat back and stretched his arm across the back of Emma's chair.

"Someone took the time to put it in a baggy so they didn't take the test here. She probably set her purse down on the floor and it fell out. Whoever this belongs to is carrying it around for a reason. I'll bet it was unplanned or she hasn't told the father yet. Maybe both."

"Why do you think that?" Ruby asked. "She could just be saving it as a memento someday."

"If she was just saving it for that reason she wouldn't have been carrying it around. She would have left it at home. She probably hasn't told the father and is in a bit of shock. I bet it hasn't sunken in yet. I know when I found out about Henry I stared at my test for an hour."

Moving his arm down to the squeeze Emma's shoulder, Neal spoke, "The million dollar question is who does it belong to?"

Suspicious looks ricocheted around the table.

"It's certainly not mine," Emma interjected, feeling the weight of her parents stares. "Besides, there is someone else sitting at this table who is the more likely culprit."

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Snow?" stammered David, looking askance at his wife.

"Of course not! It's not mine" Snow exclaimed, echoing her daughter. "I would have told you immediately. I certainly wouldn't be carrying it around in my purse."

Losing interest in the bag, Henry returned to his French toast at the counter. Silence engulfed the diner as everyone sat wondering about the identity of the bag's mysterious owner.

"While all of you use what little brainpower you have to solve this unimportant mystery, do you think I could get some more coffee sometime before lunch?" Regina piped up next to Henry at the counter, voicing her opinion on the matter for the first time.

"Regina?" Emma spoke, her left eyebrow rising as she stared at the other woman questioningly.

"You can't honestly believe that would be mine?" Regina snarled, holding out her coffee cup for Ruby to refill. "Give me a little credit. As if I'd be that careless with my belongings."

"From what little we know, it could be anyone's," Snow surmised, immediately dismissing Regina as the owner. "Someone could have rushed in just to use the restroom on the way to work. Unless they come in and claim it there is just no way to know."

"Well, what do we do with it until then," Emma asked, holding it out for Ruby to take it back. "Put it in lost-and-found?"

"I'm not putting that thing in the box under the counter. Somebody peed on it, even if it is in a baggie," Ruby answered, walking toward a small door near the restroom. "How about I stick it in the supply closet for now? It will be safer and out of sight next to the toilet paper and bleach. And as far away from the food as possible."

With the bag in it's new home, conversation resumed and the patrons of Granny's returned to their breakfasts. The only disturbance coming from the jingling of the bell above the diner's door and the familiar sound of a cane echoing across the linoleum tiles.

"Well, well." Mr. Gold declared as he walked up to the counter. "If it isn't he happy family all gathered together for breakfast. All we need is Hook to complete the picture."

"What can I do for you, Gold?" Granny muttered, not wanting to have any incidents happening in her diner. There was a tentative peace between Regina, Gold and the Charmings, but the older woman was always leery about a spark igniting into flames.

"Belle was in here earlier placing an order," Gold answered. "She wasn't feeling well and asked me to pick it up for her."

"I hope she's okay, Pop," Neal inquired. Since their return from Neverland, Neal and Gold were attempting to rebuild their relationship. A task not easily accomplished, but one they were both working on.

"She'll be okay," Gold answered his son. "Just a little bit of the stomach flu. Must have caught it off some children at the library."

"Is the library going to be closed then today, Grandpa?" Henry asked. "I wanted to go later. I have stuff to return and Belle said she had a new book for me that she thought I'd like."

"It should be open, Henry" he answered, ruffling the boys hair and then pulling out his billfold to pay for Belle's order. "I told her to close for the day, but she was adamant that she was starting to feel better. If she begins feeling worse, I'll give you a ring so you don't waste a trip."

While Henry and his grandfather were talking about library, Emma and Snow were having their own silent conversation. Emma's facial expressions and Snow's nodding earned questioning looks from both men sitting at the table.

"What the hell are…" Neal began to ask but was quickly silenced by a hard kick to his shin and scolding look from Emma warning him to remain quiet.

The exchange at the Charming's table went unnoticed by Gold and Henry, who were still engaged in conversation.

Picking up the bag of food, Gold said his goodbyes to Henry and nodded to Neal, who he would be seeing later in the afternoon. The sound of his cane faded as he exited the diner and turned in the direction of the library.

"Not just what the hell was that for?" Neal turned to Emma after his father was out of sight. "What was with all the eye rolling, head bobbing and kicking me!"

"The kicking was to get you to shut up," Emma answered in her typical ladylike manner. "We didn't need Gold to wonder what we were talking about."

"And just what were you silently discussing," David asked, as clueless as Neal to what the ladies were doing.

Snow sighed, "Didn't you pick up on what Gold was saying?"

"What?" David questioned. "He said Belle was sick."

"Men are so dense," Emma replied. "The pregnancy test. It's Belle's!"

Ruby, who was refilling their coffee cups, gasped, "Oh my god, it all fits now. Belle came in and placed her order. She sat down at the counter and we started talking. Then she said she had to use the restroom. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but when she came out she said she had to run over to the library and asked if I could make her order to go and she'd be back in a bit to pick it up."

"Did she appear sick when she came in?" Emma asked.

"No," Ruby answered, moved back to behind the counter to put on a fresh pot of coffee. "She looked like her normal self."

"Probably the smells," Snow declared. "When I was pregnant with Emma I'd be perfectly fine until the smell of food hit me and then I was reaching for the nearest vessel to throw up in."

"It appears as if Gold's been busy since our return," Regina drawled, adding her two cents into the conversation.

"Looks like you're going to be a big brother," Emma declared, throwing a grin in Neal's direction. "How do you feel about that?"

"I'm going to be an uncle!" Henry declared excitedly, rotating around on his stool and facing his dad.

"No, kid, you're going to _have _an uncle," Emma corrected.

"Or an aunt.," Neal added.

"And we thought the family tree was complicated before," Charming snorted. "Let's hope Henry never has to do a chart for a school project."

"Come on, Henry," Regina instructed, dropping money on the counter to settle her bill. "Let's go before all this familial pondering gives you a headache."

"Henry, let's keep this news quiet," Snow requested. "It's not public knowledge nor our tale to spread. Your grandfather and Belle haven't informed anyone yet. And we're not even positive it's Belle's. "

"You got it. I can keep a secret. Goodbye," he called out over the jingling of the door's bell, "see you guys later,"

"I don't know whether to impressed or shocked that Gold's going to be a father," David pondered aloud after Regina and Henry were gone.

"Who knew the old man had it in him at his age," Neal smirked.

Emma swiveled in her seat and raised her eyebrow at Neal, "Do you really want to be the one to start discussing age? How old are _you_ now exactly?"

"Point taken," Neal conceded. Wrapping his hands around his coffee cup, he took a drink and then added, "You have to admit, Belle will be a wonderful mother. Never thought I'd say that after that first meeting with her."

"Yeah, Lacey wasn't the most responsible person," David admitted. "She was more familiar with a beer bottle than a baby bottle."

"Just think," Granny sighed, taking the empty plates from the table. Excited at the prospect of holding a baby once again in her arms, she gushed, "a new baby!"

"You do realize that baby is half-Rumplestilskin," Emma reminded the older woman. "No offense," she added, looking at Neal.

"But it will also be half-Belle," Granny muttered. "And like Neal said, she'll be a wonderful mother."

"So now that we know who the pregnancy test belongs to who wants to return it to her," Emma laughed. "Anyone?"

"You're the sherriff," Neal answered. "You do it."

"Uh-uh," Emma shook her head. "That's not in my job description. She's your future sibling's baby mama, you do it."

"You guys are all wimps," Ruby declared. "I'll take it over during my break. Hopefully by then Gold will be gone."

"Let us know how it turns out," Snow told Ruby as she pulled her jacket off the back of her chair and pulled it on. "If she's worried tell her we're all happy for her."

Now that the morning's mystery was solved and breakfast was finished, the four collected their things and said their goodbyes to Ruby and Granny and headed off in their different directions. The last thing Emma heard as she was leaving was Granny rushing around muttering, "Oh, I must pull my knitting needles out. She'll need a blanket and booties and …"

_This was supposed to be a short little ficlet but it grew. Hope you liked it. _


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